THE FATE OF FEL GARDE
The fall of the fortress FEL GARDE has long been a mystery. For miles and miles
in every direction, riders appeared to have fallen in their tracks, whole towns
left lifeless. No visible wound or injury was found on the dead, the men, women,
or the children. There was no evidence of poisoning or an attacking enemy force.
But there was one survivor.
Once the fortress was a prison for the unwanted, the unmentionables, and enemies
of the state. It encircled an entire valley, the cursed ground of FALCOMB. The
land there was long spoiled by long-forgotten battles and massacres, and it had
become a breeding ground for evil. Those who entered the gates Fel Garde never
came back the same, only whispering a single name. SOROLAND.
The warden of Fel Garde, Soroland, was a ruthless and strong-willed man, well
respected amongst the guards, and feared by the prisoners for his severity. He
was appointed by the judge of the local province to run and administer the Fel
Garde prison.
Today the fortress is in ruins, and none dare to traverse the cursed ground it
stands on. Soroland was the only survivor of Fel Garde, and refuses to explain
what happened. His fellow guards had fallen in the prison revolt. The citizens
of the province were all dead, and the prisoners had vanished right from their
shackles. With nothing left, he went out into the world to try to piece his
shattered life back together. Though he took up work with a roving band of
mercenaries, Soroland never forgot what happened; he was changed forever by this
event, humbled; and marked. The tattoos on his arms and legs signified an
inescapable curse, marks of the massacre at Fel Garde burned into his flesh.
The warden, SOROLAND (sore-o-lund) is a strongly built man with a dark
complexion, a cruel face with unusually expressive dark eyes. A mutton chop and
a scar cut down his cheek lend him a distinctive appearance. Soroland is clad in
a tattered royal uniform, weatherworn and frayed. His ragged tabard conceals
old, rusted armor. His muscled arms run from shoulder to wrist with tattoos,
which almost look like branding marks, written in a long-forgotten language.
Soroland is a skilled close-combat fighter.
THE CURSE OF THE TWO FACES
At the least opportune times, Soroland is transformed into the damned judge
SANGLANTE, the woman who appointed him, and who held ultimate dominion over Fel
Garde and the surrounding province.
The judge, SANGLANTE (song-lawnt) is a tall, beautiful brown-haired woman in her
forties, with long, flowing hair. Her red, elaborate dress is that of a noble,
with ornate patterns woven into the fabric resembling trails of blood. Bands of
jewels and rare metals adorn her waist and hair. A black, dimly glowing tattoo,
of the same language as Soroland’s, mars her flawless skin, running from her
right temple, all the way down her body, past the cut of her dress to her ankle.
Soroland’s scar appears in the exact same place on her otherwise flawless skin.
Her eyes have an unnatural and disturbing glint. Under her velvet robe, she
carries an ornately decorated hammer.
She can use her robe and hammer to defend against attacks and to strike out with
unholy justice against enemies. Sanglante has long-ranged combat skills and the
ability to influence both friends and enemies in and out of battle.
Sanglante shares equally in Soroland’s curse. She is the second face; the hand
that guided the blade, the one who sacrificed the lives of her subjects to keep
the inmates of the Falcomb bound to the scarred land. The process endowed her
with unnatural abilities. Sanglante is a soft-spoken aristocrat, kindly, but
determined, and helpful in diplomatic matters. She no longer laments her curse,
but is resigned to her ultimate fate. Though typically reasonable, she abjectly
refuses the one act that will lift the curse; for Soroland to free all the
inmates of Falcomb, the innocent and the guilty alike. It would be a
nullification of the sacrifice she made, the massacre that killed so many at Fel
Garde.
On command, the brusque Soroland can transform into the silver-tongued Sanglante,
and vice versa. Eventually, the player will have to decide which of the two will
have dominion; though it is possible, if all the correct choices are made, to
free them both. This makes for some interesting conversations and social
situations later in the game.
THE WARDEN’S PENANCE
SHAI encounters Soroland boasting of his mercenary exploits in a tavern. When
questioned, Soroland offers his services. It’s possible to embarrass him by
bringing up a topic which invokes the curse and turns him into Sanglante, and
it’s more than likely that the player will invoke this curse accidentally before
too long. Though he puts on a macho front about his battle prowess, he is deeply
ashamed of his part in the curse, and fears more than anything else that he is a
bad luck charm to anyone he meets.
When Shai learns the origin of those truly responsible for killing her family,
she must turn to Soroland. Only Soroland knows the way in or out through the
corrupted fortress of Fel Garde. Only he can free the souls of the prisoners so
justice can be done upon them; though the fair Sanglante will do everything in
her power to prevent this.